Click here to listen to the Theme tune(thank you to Richard
for supplying)

Inigo Pipkin and Pipkins (renamed later on in
1973)

Pipkins was made by ATV Television Production studios (soon
to be Central Television) in the 1973 onwards. This preschool children's
lunchtime program was shown on I.T.V. around midday and was an absolute must
watch program. The first series of shows had George Woodbridge in the lead role
as as Inigo Pipkin (Mr Pipkin) who was the puppet maker. Johnny and Bertha
(played by Wayne Laryea & Jumoke Debayo respectively) supported the human
cast for the show. All the puppets (Hartley Hare and Old Tortoise) and Inigo
lived in a small toy shop in a town somewhere in England (any offers as to
where ?).

During filming, George Woodbridge never really looked very
well and sadly died in during the filming of the second series in 1973. People
may remember George Woodbridge in films and shows such as the Magnificent Six
and ½, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, The Iron Maiden, What a Carve Up,
Two Way Stretch, An Inspector Calls, Green for Danger, The Black Sheep of
Whitehall - check out the IMDB
database to see a huge list of films he starred in . But most of all he
will be remembered as the father figure in Pipkins who took care of Hartley and
Tortoise.

By now the show was very popular and could not be written
off just like that. Johnny took over and gave the show a more solid foundation
onto which new stories could be written. Hartley and Tortoise were the real
rocks of the show and were there from the start but soon Topov, Pig, Mooney,
Pigeon and Octavia came along to add a bit more variety to the show.

Hartley Hare was a real moth eaten old hare who was always
trying to be the leader of the group. He often considered himself to me more
intelligent, better looking and a more human like hare that the other animals.
He would often try to be the director for any of the show's stories. Pig was
the supposed brains of the outfit and spoke with a thick Brummie accent. Topov
- not sure of his or her role. The monkey was always on top of things and hence
that is where the name originated from. Octavia was the beautiful bird and
hence a singer. She spent most of her time strutting around singing and looking
pretty. Hartley was in love with her and would often lose himself as she sang.
Tortoise was the oldest and wisest of the group and was in charge of the cash
register. He did not seem to have a sense of humour and spoke with the same
monotonic voice throughout the series. Mooney was not often seen in the show
but when he was he appeared as an Irish Badger. He would very often tell
stories long and tall. The last member of the group was pigeon who would often
act as a messenger and relay information back to the Pipkins crowd concerning
the outside world. A few other characters appeared in the show from time to
time including some of Hartley's relatives.

The introduction song was sung by Jackie Lee who (most of
us will remember) also sang the song for the classic puppet series "The
Adventures of Rupert Bear." I think she also did the theme for "White Horses"
as well. Pipkins went all the way into late 1981 before it finally vanished
from our screens, never to be repeated. Whatever happened to poor old Hartley
and did he ever get his true love Octavia (although most of us believed he was
always in love with himself). From some of the information that Richard sent
me, the studio it was filmed in may not even be there anymore. This is really
sad as this program was brilliant and really set a standard for all other shows
to follow.

Songwise, there were a couple of different versions with
different lyrics. Back in 1974 they used:

This is the story of....

Inigo Pipkin

Inigo Pipkin

Inigo the puppet maker

OhhOhhhh

Inigo Pipkin

Inigo Pipkin

Inigo the puppet man

Inigo the puppet mannnnnn

Later on in the series after the sad death of George
Woodbridge (Mr Inigo Pipkin) different lyrics had to be brought in.

Here come the Pipkins

There go the Pipkins

And they've got another job to do

Topov the Monkey

Pig's always hungry

In the Pipkin puppet van

In the Pipkin puppet vannnnnn

A third version then appeared in 1977 - This one had
new screen titles as well